Dominion Ascendant
by Lord of Daemons
Summary: Marcus Friedrich was just minding his own business when he found himself kidnapped by a strange woman. But who is this woman? What does she want...and why the hell is she claiming he's some kind of galactic overlord?


Dominion Ascendant

A/N: Hello it's been a while hasn't it? Well I must apologize for my absence but to put it bluntly stuff came up both school and family related in nature. Some deaths, some hospitalizations, a divorce and other things I would prefer not to talk about plus some writers block just to ruin things further. But now I have returned with a story which you may be surprised to learn has been in the works for years but which I never got around to publishing. But here it is at last Dominion Ascendant inspired by the works Stargate: Galactic Imperium by Vex Master and Stargate the Covenant Empire by Lucifer 00. And before anyone asks, don't worry I have already gotten their permission to write. So with that said please enjoy!

_Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak – Thomas Carlyle _

Prologue: Future's Past

The acrid smell of burning circuitry, flesh, and ozone filled the air. Lysandria, the jewel of the United Novan Dominion was alight. But it was not alone, all around and across the planet of Nova Vita the fires of war burned bright. Planet side fighting was reduced to a combination of the one on one merciless street to street fighting of Stalingrad, and a good chunk of guerilla warfare like something out of a Vietnam War flick.

High above the planet surface though the situation was taking place along far different lines. In the near perfect void of space the silent and ever present explosions while beautiful were rendered utterly meaningless upon closer examination. It was in contrast to the situation below an orderly stalemate. The sheer saturation of fire ripping through space rendered any attempt at bordering actions completely and utterly suicidal, and the sheer nature of the ships were like something out of a well known thought exercise. The ships of the Novans' and their allies acted as great immovable objects, while their opponents the apparently unstoppable force.

Where they crossed paths, faint distortions seemed evident as though the fabric of reality was shuddering at the mere thought of the impossible power these two forces wielded being thrown against one another.

And yet neither side would relent. If there was one thing the Novans' retained from their purely organic predecessors it was a sheer unrelenting stubbornness that refused to allow them to let up despite the fact all signs pointed to the imminent collapse of their way of life.

Even as there city was reduced to something that made the VJ Day Nagasaki look whole and intact, the Novans fought on. Why though? Why keep fighting even though the battle was lost, against opponents whose mere existence seemed to strain both their own minds abilities of comprehension and realities ability to prove their existence?

Stubbornness of course played a large part in it but mostly it was the more than a little bit of indignation and rage at the callous dismissal of themselves by the enemy commander. His words captured by a malfunctioning camera drone echoed in the minds of them all driving them to fight on and prove him wrong.

"_They're just a warm-up, a practice run to prepare for our true enemies. In truth they are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Once were done with their precious Lord and master we'll initiate Ozymandias protocols, and wipe any trace of them from the face of existence. Hah, so much for their beloved leader's divine plan."_

Yes the all important plan to, to...to? Wait what is it again? I...I should know this-s I-I. Think, T**h**_**in**_k, no**!** Too much thinking, too many memories, t-tOO MANY **THOUGHTS! "GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"**

**WARNING! HEART RATE DROPPING! SYNCHRONIZATION RATIO UNSTABLE! MENTAL COLLAPSE IMMINENT ANIMUS 3.0 EMERGENCY DISCONNECT F-FAI...LLLLLL... **

"Shit he's flat lining, damn it Crane what the fuck? Your machine was supposed to remind him of who he was, not go and kill him all over again!"

_'Who...?'_

"I-I don't know this has n-never...

"The Hell it hasn't! Fix it now!"

_'wh_at...?"

"Huh...wait he's waking up! Come on Marcus stay with me I...No Stop! Please don't go! Please Marcus w-we...I need you! I can't..."

Oh...now this is just confusing...I was coming home from the DMV and then… that hot cosplayer girl with pink hair approached me and I agreed to follow her and now this. Damn that was a fucking dumb thing to do, and now look at me I'm either dying or going insane.

Well before the full implications of either of those things set in I might as well try and figure out what the hell's happening to me. Hm, let's see...Damn my minds a jumble I can barely even remember who I am or how I ended up here. Hm, all right maybe if I start at the beginning. My name is Marcus Alexander Friedrich. Okay, got that part down, now age. _Well I put down 25 on the DMV forms today_ but...no that can't be right I was blowing up Ba'al's lab...no that can't be GAH! _Where the hell is this second set of weird impossible memories coming from?_ _Stupid brains do as I_...oh screw it I guess my mind is more messed up than I thought. _Damn_, oh screw it since fighting the memories is just causing me pain I guess I might as well pick one set and stick with it till it ends. Maybe then I can sort the mess that was my mind out. So with that in my mind I guess I'll pick the memories where cool crap happened.

Okay then guess I'll just have to start at the beginning again. Okay my name is Ma... _wait why am I narrating my own_...oh screw it I'm already insane, might as well go and narrate my life to myself.

Anyway, my name is Marcus Alexander Friedrich. I am quite literally a bastard child who was born in a crappy little suburb on the outskirts of Knoxville Tennessee, to Alisha Friedrich a teacher originally from outside Denver and a rich man who took advantage of her and left her, _Wait what? Ow, my head okay I guess I'll worry about that later._

Growing up I guess I could say my life was all right, hard but okay overall. Well except for one thing; I kept getting this weird vibe that Mom seemed to give off. It was always there like when she would look at me her eyes would harden for a second and her body would tense up until she would relax a moment later. It was almost like she didn't recognize me and it seemed to get worse as I got older. However she never did anything to indicate she didn't love me and so I just tended to ignore it. In any case when I was about 11 though things got a little too tough to bear and my mom and I had to move. Mom wasn't making nearly enough money and faced with either living on the streets or going back home to live with my grandfather Al...Well neither option was necessarily good given their relationship (or rather lack of one) but when you have a kid to worry about sometimes you just have to swallow your pride.

So off we went to my grandfather's farm near the hills outside of Denver, a place which I would call my home for the rest of my teenage life. My grandfather wasn't a bad man, just rather stern and from a different era. I could tell though on some level he disapproved of me. In retrospect it was more than likely on account of the fact I shared half my genes with the guy who forced himself on his daughter. Or maybe it was the fact that (as I later found out) I looked a lot like my so called father, same wavy brown hair, same hazel green eyes, if it wasn't for my straighter nose and stronger jaw we could have passed as twins.

Regardless though after Mom died shortly after my 13th birthday things got kind of rough. Gramps wasn't a bad guy, like I said he was old fashioned and had a certain stern standard about him. He was not above tanning my hide with the back of his hand if I messed up, though he never did anything too bad with one exception but I forgave him for it.

Looking back on how rowdy and antisocial I was though, I find it was probably good thing he acted as he did. It kept me in line and since gramps was of the mind set of "if your home you better be working, studying or fulfilling certain bodily necessities", well it certainly gave me the impetus to get out of the house and not mope around the home while also allowing me to learn social skills and whatnot.

Looking back I can safely say that he was a good man, and though I resented him on some level for being so rather cold, I can safely say he was one of the best of the so called greatest generation. He was a stern but fair person, self reliant, hard working, honest and tolerant. At least that's what I always thought of him, oddly though he was always rather hard on himself. I guess he blamed himself for what happened to mom, I think between that and my appearance well it's no wonder he never really gave me any affection. Well that and I think he disapproved of my rather nerdy fascination with Sci-fi, anime, and fantasy but still despite all that he still did the right thing and took care of me. And between that and the fact he was my only living relative as far as I knew and I guess that's why I kept trying so hard to get his affection.

Was it worth it though? To this day I'm not sure. I know according to a lot of people I ended up adopting many of his traits. Unlike him though I don't let the past get in my way and like my mother I was more honest and open with my feelings.

Getting back on track though it was shortly after my 16th birthday that I hit another low point in my life. Gramps died leaving me enough money to finish high school and the roughly 10 acre farm to myself and the farm hands. Thankfully it was already paid off; however unlike gramps I had no intention of spending the rest of my life working on a farm for the rest of my days. I wanted to go to college and study law, unfortunately that cost money I was severely lacking in at the time and since I was unwilling to get a loan which I had no guarantee of paying off, it was off to the military for me.

More specifically the Marines, I think it was on account of me wanting to make gramps proud, what with his having served in the corps from Saipan to Okinawa and right up to the end of that mess in Korea._ That _and the fact I had no interest in being stuck on a boat for god knows how long and since I (at the time) wasn't interested in flying, it was (at least in my mind the only option) the only viable option. As for the National Guard and the Army...well I am pretty sure gramps would have kicked my ass from beyond the grave if I picked one of those what with his Marine pride and all.

I actually didn't think I was going to do so well in the military, I wasn't what most people would call a people person though I had improved greatly since my anti-social youth. So between my previous inability to work with people and the fact that I didn't think I had good judgment I was sure I was destined for a dishonorable discharge. Well as it turns out mutual hatred towards our prick of a DI (and I don't me in the usual way this guy was more of a sadist than necessary) served as a very good way to form unit cohesion and friendship. Surprisingly, it turns out my former anti-social behavior was a good thing, it taught me to keep my head down and avoid detection so as a result despite the fact I was just as guilty of doing stupid crap like all the other guys in the unit I don't remember getting in trouble for anything discipline related (inability to do something physical is another story though). Anyways after boot camp Uncle Sam decided I was needed and so my unit got called up to serve in Afghanistan.

If I have to be honest, I have to say that time in the corps despite the hardships joining entailed, is probably where most of my best memories in my early years are. I had made more friends there than at any other time in my life and as it turns out I was really good at what I did. Despite my original intentions to get in and out as quickly and cleanly as possible I ended up sticking around and working my way up the ranks, eventually becoming a 2nd lt. the old fashioned way. Becoming what military folks termed a mustang was something I was proud of and cherished greatly; unfortunately those good feelings weren't meant to last.

It was a long time ago but I recall it was sometime in September of 2011 that it happened (I remember because I recall talking to a friend about how pissed I was that the whole of SGU had been released on DVD in Europe and not here). I recall being called into the base's briefing room and I remember being as excited as this was supposed to be my last mission. I was tired and was fully prepared to close this chapter in my life and just go back to be a civilian. Overall the mission seemed simple enough; I was told that my platoon was being sent to check out a place somewhere up near the mountains bordering Pakistan. Once I got to where the helicopter was alarm bells started to go off as upon arriving to the tarmac I saw there was not one but 3 Ch-53E transports as well as two other platoons I had not been told about. This was way too many men for a patrol job; especially given that the area we were being sent to was still politically sensitive after that whole mess with Bin Laden.

I tried to get an answer out of my superiors but I was only told that the extra platoons were last minute (my ass last minute) and that everything else was classified and that was that. It was shortly after takeoff that we finally got the full story though, our company commander Captain Kosinski informed us that there was something in the area that was screwing with our birds' equipment and that since the other platoons were needed elsewhere we were sent in to figure out what the hell was going on. Military Intelligence told us that immediately prior to the equipment bugging out that local insurgent activity was mild. 15 minutes after being dropped off and starting up the mountain though, I finally learned the hard way why many of the troops called military intelligence an oxymoron.

We got jumped in the worst possible place; we had just emerged onto an open uphill embankment after squeezing through a narrow ass mountain pass like something out of the battle of Thermopylae only to find another narrow pass ahead of us blocked by a platoon of insurgents manning some left over Russian machine guns. Calling it a kill box was putting it mildly; the platoon Kosinski was leading up front and 2 of my guys Collins and Holloway got mowed down almost immediately while I got a round in my bicep for my trouble. It was a mess and the only reason we managed to avoid any more casualties was because the angle of the steep embankment blocked the machine gunners' line of fire.

Before we could even think about suppressing them though fate decided to show how much of a bitch she truly was as another platoon worth of guys came up behind us and caught us in a pincer formation.

I think the comparison to Thermopylae at this point became truly adequate; only now the insurgents' role switched from the Spartans to the Persians. It was also at this moment that we realized we were truly screwed as our radio operator tried to call in some fire support only to get cut off by an earful of static for his troubles. That's also the last thing I remember as moments later a grenade exploded near my position and it was lights out for me.

I honestly don't know how long I was out, since when I woke up I was shackled to the wall in a room somewhere underground. I do however know that I wasn't alone.

"Barrows is that you?" I groggily called out vaguely recognizing the shape of the corporal across from me. He was from the platoon that had been covering our ass when we got flanked.

"Huh?" He said groggily "Hey Lt. Good to see you amongst the living again."

"Barrows, where's everybody else?"

"…"

"Barrows…?"

"I-it's just us sir, we're all that's left well actually, there's gunnery sergeant Jones from my group but from what I was able to piece together from what they were saying I don't think he's going to last much longer…"

At that instant the door to our little impromptu dungeon opened and I got to meet our hosts for the evening. Two guys in rather old military fatigues and balaclavas on to obscure their features. After that I can barely recall what happened next, just getting manhandled and dragged by one of these goons followed by the blurry sensations of torture and pain before passing out again.

Once again I woke up in a cell only this time Barrows wasn't there. In fact the only other person I could make out was on the ground in front of me. I would have thought he was dead given the still new injuries crisscrossing his body save for the fact his chest kept rising and falling (albeit rather weakly). Obviously our "hosts" either thought he wasn't much of a threat or they thought since he was going to be dead soon there was no point in chaining him up.

Speaking of chaining someone up, whoever had done so to me had done a half assed job. I managed to slip one of my hands free and once that happened I immediately proceeded to try the same with the other, but unfortunately that one was done more securely done. Of course doing anything else to try to free myself might draw attention from the guard outside the impromptu cell block to the fact I was partially free, but faced with that or waiting around to be to tortured and/or possibly killed I decided it was better than doing nothing.

So I managed to pry loose a piece of the cell wall with my free hand and just went at the rusted chains cave man style. By some miraculous act of God I managed to eventually break the chain without anyone coming to investigate. But now I was faced with the simple fact that I was alone. I had no idea where I was and even if by some miracle I managed to overpower the guard I'd be lost as to how to escape. Besides there was also the fact that there was no way I was leaving without the rest of my men.

It was situations like this I hated, I thought myself pretty adaptable but that was only when I had some info to work and plan with. But here alone save for the apparently dying man across from me my old inferiority complex gramps instilled in me began to fill my mind with self-doubt and self-depreciating thoughts.

_If only I had done something sooner, been more aware of what was going on around me. For fucks sakes the drone flyby was practically a big neon sign saying we were interested in the area. Damn it we should have either hired some locals to double check the area or come in at night when we less likely to be seen._

Thankfully for what was left of my rather low self esteem the sudden gurgling and convulsing sounds of my other cellmate suddenly broke me from my musings. A moment later he was completely silence and he had clearly stopped breathing. Wanting to do something I ran over to him and not sensing a pulse when I checked I went to give him CPR.

And that is when I endured the biggest change of my life. The moment I put my mouth to his something leapt down my throat and before I could pull away I felt a pain at the back of my throat. And then, from the recesses of my mind, a voice not my own echoed out.

'_Hello' _

In retrospect, I have nary a clue as to why I didn't scream, maybe it was shock or maybe it was the utter unreality of this situation but whatever it was all I could do was sit there jaw hanging open at everything.

'_Well, okay I guess I'll just have to introduce myself then. My name is Alef and you are?'_

'_Um' _I thought to myself, just barely keeping myself together _'Shouldn't you already know who I am? You are in my head after all.'_

'_Hah, your logic is sound but you should know I am a Tok'ra and we don't believe it is exactly proper to go poking around our host's brain without their express permission unless it's absolutely vital. Though I must apologize for entering your body like this, but my last host Martef was beyond saving and…_

'_Whoa, hold the hell up! You're a Tok'ra, as in the good guy cousins and enemies of the Goa'uld? The hell! That's, that's impossible! You guys are fictional for crying out loud!'_

'_Fictional? I can assure you we are quite real and have been allies with your planet for years! Unless… this is, oh what do you Tau'ri call your planet in your native tongue? Oh that's right Earth, this is Earth correct?'_

'_Um, yeah this is Tau'ri I mean Earth but…wow you're being serious aren't you? Wow I mean this is unreal. You see you guys are actually from a T.V show and…you know what as awkward as this is going to be for both of us I think it might be best if you saw my memories.'_

And he did, he saw well everything from the Tok'ra fighting against the Goa'uld symbiotes and their Jaffa soldiers in SG-1. To the subsequent war with the Wraith in Stargate Atlantis and the events of the recently completed Stargate Universe series as well as the events of the various Stargate movies. When it was over he was so silent I almost thought I had imagined the whole exchange with him.

'_I, I don't know what to say except how could this be possible? I mean the events in your mind are entirely accurate down to the last detail and I don't sense any deception but, how could all we have struggled through been just a T.V show of all things!'_

'_Well' _I chimed trying to think up a solution. _'I remember reading a comic awhile back where a character in said comic met a character from a series he thought was fictional too. Basically it turned out that the writer for that other series had been mentally picking up signals from the other universe and simply wrote what he saw without realizing it was real. It's possible that the same thing might be going on with the Stargate T.V show creators. But that still doesn't explain your being here in my universe. Though I have a feeling you know, don't you?'_

'_Yes in fact I do, here let me show you'_

And with that he began to download his thoughts into mine. Apparently Alef was a relatively young Tok'ra who had worked extensively with the Tau'ri before becoming a long term infiltrator observing the system lord Ba'al as a member of his R&D division. When Ba'al had shifted his loyalties to the recently returned Anubis Alef had intern followed secretly feeding info on tech developments and troop movements to the Tok'ra. Including a device that Anubis had Ba'al working on using some of the knowledge had achieved through his partial ascension to a higher plane of existence. Namely in the form of a device that allowed the user to travel between realities. However it was around this time that Ba'al had started to get suspicious when just as he was about to make a move against Alef fate intervened. Anubis had suddenly disappeared for reasons unknown (I knew it was because he had gotten himself locked in eternal conflict on a higher plane of existence) and Ba'al had been busy claiming all that remained of his domain. This gave Alef a chance to get going while the going was good. So he escaped with the help of some of Anubis' former troops, using a stolen Al'kesh bomber to escape while he assumed no one was watching. Unfortunately that's when things went really wrong…

_Several days prior…_

_Alef stood in the room containing the trans-dimensional shifter device which held so much potential for destruction. It was astounding really, the device at first glance appeared to just be a piece of crystal embedded in a golden base no bigger than a stone bust and could easily have been mistaken as one of those cheap baubles so common to the desks of corporate executives. Closer examination of the device though revealed an intricate layer of etched symbols and circuitry. Pressing one of those symbols would cause a holographic star chart of the various galaxies as well as a series of different floating mathematical values and symbols to appear. Also similar to a modern tablet computer the user could scroll by touching the holographic display and moving his hand to reveal even more functions. It was quite simply an incredible achievement of science and engineering with so many potential uses…which is exactly why the last person who needed to get his hands on this was Ba'al. The last thing he needed was Ba'al using this to travel to and conquer a version of earth without any defenses against him. Actually speaking of Earth it was at this moment Alef realized given the device's ability to warp space time he could probably save on travel time and head straight to Earth once he dropped off his allies. With that in mind he set about setting to co-ordinates to earth all the while his host Martef was wondering why the so called brains of the operation didn't think of this sooner._

_It was times like this Alef wondered why he had picked Martef to be his host but screw it beggars can't be choosers though he was horribly tempted to do so. Fortunately before Alef could contemplate abandoning Martef and getting a new host once they were off this ship his ruminations were cut short moments later as the door to the room opened up revealing the former First Prime and leader of Ba'al's forces Karok. _

"_Alef, we should soon be outside the border of Ba'al's new domain."_

"_**Excellent, once this we're past the last patrols deactivate the hyperdrive and set a course for the planet I've designated."**_

"_And your associates will have what you've promised?"_

"_**Yes Karok once we've reached the planet my associates in the Tok'ra will give you the Tretonin so you and your men may be free at last"**_

"_You mean free as long we continue to take it, I've heard of this substance and its supposed benefits, all your doing is making us switch from one form of dependency to another. Whether it's spending our days being forced to incubate a Goa'uld symbiote or forced to take Tretonin as a substitute for their healing abilities the fact remains we still aren't truly free are we?"_

"_**No I suppose not. Though what you said raises a question, if that is how you truly feel about this situation, why are you assisting me?"**_

"_Hm, because any amount of freedom is preferable to slavery to a false god any day. Tell me though, what is this device you had my men bring on board? It doesn't look like anything I've…"_

_Before the conversation could continue a sudden explosion rocked the ship. Moments later the whole ship seemed to shudder before the whole ship stopped dead in the proverbial water._

"_**As the Tau'ri would put it what the hell was that?" **_

"_It looks like our hyperdrive just got taken out but how did this happen?"_

_The question was promptly answered by a small blast of superheated plasma burning through Karok's face. Alef turned to find a being straight out of the galaxy's nightmares standing before him. The humanoid being before him was dressed from head to toe in black cloth and armor giving it the appearance of a scarab beetle. Anyone aware of Anubis and by extension Ba'al's forces would recognize the nightmare as one of Anubis' elite artificially created Kull warriors. One of the Kull warrior's wrist mounted plasma repeaters turned to face him but instead of firing the warrior just stood there._

_Moments later a communication screen on the far wall activated. The visage of a handsome bearded man in regal robes sat on a throne. However whatever illusions of him being a run of the mill human leader was broken moments later when the eyes began to glow before the eerily deepened and flanged voice characteristic of a symbiote echoed out._

"_**Oh Alef, did you honestly think I wouldn't notice one of my prototype Al'kesh just randomly disappearing? Given how much technology and resources were invested into these vessels, you should have known I would be especially careful when it came to them. You're probably not aware of this but thanks to a beacon incorporated into the Al'kesh my Ha'tak is just a few seconds from your current position. In a matter of moments I will be there and you will be begging for your pathetic life. Ah what a wonderful and therapeutic way to vent my frustrations this will be! Still, I would have thought you would have known to fully check a ship in advance before hijacking it but it seems you're slipping in your old age. See that's the problem with you Tok'ra, there's barely any of you left in the stars and with Egeria's death there's no new queen to replace your losses and yet despite the fact you may die before your mission is complete you refuse to use the sarcophagi to regenerate yourself. I never understood why you did so, but seeing as you're about to die perhaps you wouldn't mind explaining?"**_

_Alef was horribly tempted to tell Ba'al to shove it where the sun doesn't shine, but then a thought occurred to him. Something was off Ba'al already knew why the Tok'ra didn't use the device, and yet despite the fact his servants could be seen walking around in the images background here he was breaking his image as an all knowing god right in plain view of his servants. Though admittedly Ba'al tended to be rather flippant about some of the quirks common amongst the Goa'uld (like pressing the issue of his divinity to those in the know or whole glowing eyes of doom trick) he would never risk breaking the mystic of his divinity to his more ignorant subjects. So the fact he was going out of his way to do so and the fact he seemed, well a little twitchy probably meant he was suffering from withdrawal from not using the sarcophagus recently. Taking that into consideration, the fact Ba'al would quickly realize his mistake and try to save face in front of his servants, and that the Kull warriors were rather dim and wouldn't do anything without an order, meant if he could keep Ba'al talking and just inch his way towards the trans-dimensional shifter…yes that would work. So calling up a combination of his years of experience and some tricks he had picked up from the Tau'ri he set to work._

"_**Tell you what Ba'al answer my question and I'll answer yours"**_

"_**Pleases Alef you are in no position to bargain and you know it"**_

"_**Oh come on Ba'al, I'm right where you want me, I know fair play isn't exactly your modus operandi but seriously you can't even humor me? You know it's a crappy attitude like that that makes me wonder why it took so long for your slaves to try and make a move against you. I know the whole threat of death from above can be pretty good motivation not to revolt but you would think at least one of your personal lo'taur attendants would have tried something. I mean come on where's that "divine" mercy your subjects went on about!" **_

_Now of course Alef knew he was playing with fire but given the perilous situation Ba'al's divine position was in he was banking on Ba'al not wanting to look bad in front of the crew of his ship that might be listening in. Fortunately his gambit was right on the money as Ba'al momentarily paused to contemplate this giving Alef a chance to inch closer to the device. Just a little further…_

"_**Very well, I suppose as a benevolent god I should show some modicum of mercy to my foes. You may ask your question" **_

"_**Alright then answer me this why was there a kull warrior on this ship, it's clear to me you didn't beam him onto the ship as one of the new sensors you had me install would have been tripped, which means he must have been already been stowed away. Which is just odd to me what with your lack of a means to produce more of them and their rather limited lifespan I would have thought you would have been a little stingier with their usage instead of wasting them on superfluous things like guarding your ships? So what gives?"**_

"_**Hm, well if you must know you've already partially answered your own question, given common knowledge of their abilities and the fact I can't make more of them without the knowledge Anubis possessed means they're prime targets the moment they stepped through a stargate. And given the abundance of that accursed disruptor you and the Tau'ri cooked up to stop them they would be picked off in moments. To be frank it's actually more of a waste to send them onto the frontlines then to keep them to guard my own empire, or in this case stow them away in stasis pods to take care of the occasional annoying mutineer and hijacker."**_

"_**Ah yes, I suppose that does make quite a bit off sense. Well I suppose I should keep my end of the bargain now shouldn't I. As to your question before, I suppose the best answer is quite simply given the addictive properties of the sarcophagus it's simply not worth the risk.**_

_A little closer…_

"_**And as is common knowledge any material dependency is a weakness. **_

_Just about…_

"_**Because as you should know when you're busy trying to feed your addictions you tend to become distracted and miss minute little details like oh I don't know, this!" **In less than a second Alef brought his hand down on the device's activation switch. Just as he did so he heard Ba'al scream at the kull to fire. It did so the blast of plasma striking the device just as it began to emit a white light. A bolt of energy surged out from the device striking the Tok'ra in his gut and everything went black._

_When he awoke several hours later he found himself and Martef in a vast and rocky valley several feet away from the still smoldering Al'kesh. From there he vaguely recalled to image of several men (who I assumed to be the same men who captured my unit) before one of them dragged him up and into the caves on the nearby cliff face. After that there were some blurry half remembered images of the complex right up until he jumped into me. _

'_Well damn" I muttered out the whole experience leaving me winded. "So yeah that was the good way to kill…um how long did seeing all that that take exactly?'_

'_About 5 minutes' _

'…_okay yeah this whole mess is going to take some getting used to. So…um, you wouldn't happen to have any idea to get out of here would you?' _

'_Not a clue'_

To this day what happened next is still sort of a blur. All I remember is that I just went berserk flailing and stamping around my room like a caged animal all the while letting loose a mental stream of obscenities so foul I dare not repeat them. All I will say is that it was very loud and to simplify went something along the lines of. "WELL THEN WHAT FUCKING GOOD ARE YOU!"

At that exact moment I think the door behind me must have opened however I can't be sure for I was too engrossed in letting loose another stream of mental obscenities to notice.

It seemed while my earlier attempts to get free went unnoticed my frustration induced psychotic break was loud enough to draw the attention of the guard. In retrospect though this was actually a good thing, because I now had a target for my misplaced aggression and boy did it feel good to let it all out!

Definitely not my finest moment, but screw it I was out of that little cage so yeah it's all good. Thankfully though when my conscious mind finally exerted itself a moment later I at least manage to drag the poor bastard into the cage and close the door before I puked my guts up.

'_**So… all better now?' **_

'_Um, yeah but seriously Alef what the hell just happened? _

'_**To put it simply, you were pissed he was there and now he's not. Truthfully I could have stopped it but once I realized you had actually found us a way out I decided to let you vent your frustrations on that poor guy. Sorry about that…'**_

'_You know what, screw it, it got us out of there so forget about it. Okay, now that we are out of the cage I guess we should put our heads together and try and figure out how to get out of here._

'_**You got it'**_

Now here is where I learned the age old lesson that when you assume something it makes _an ass out of you and me. _For instance my beliefs that Alef's knowledge of earth's colloquialisms was as great as my own. Alef took my expression as literally as you could and took the mind blend to a level I didn't even know was possible. It wasn't like what the fans had seen on the show with 2 people sharing the same body with one person allowed to take command while the other is in the background giving advice until they tag out.

What we did was something else, something I would later learn was similar to the Vulcan mind meld from Star Trek, both of our minds completely became one there was no Alef and Marcus, and we were one. On the one hand it was completely terrifying and something I promised would never happen again (yet another thing I should have known, never make promises you can't keep). On the other hand it had a wonderful side effect of allowing us to better analyze Alef's memories from a new perspective and thus helped us figure out a plan out of here.

After looking over Alef's memories we suddenly realized where we were in relation to both my friends were, and to something very valuable to us at the moment…the storeroom where objects from the ship were being stored for later examination. Thankfully it was a short walk and due to the second rate security patrols guarding the place it was child's play to sneak into the room.

Once there my personality promptly seized control as I went fan boy at the amount of gizmos from the Stargate series which I promptly proceed to examine

'_Let's see, zat stunner cool, Ma'tok staff weapon awesome, huh so that's where your kara kesh went Alef I thought it might have broken but I guess it makes sense the Goa'uld would want their hand devices to be durable…'_

'_**Damn it Marcus focus!'** _

'_Okay! Okay! God damn spoil sport let's see what else do we…well happy birthday to me! _

There before me was something that just made escape that much easier, the armor from that kull warrior in Alef's memories. Judging by both the fact the plasma repeaters was mangled and that the armor was here and not on the warrior himself my guess was either the kull had been killed upon the ships uncontrolled reentry (unlikely as the first kull warrior had survived a block of C-4 blowing up in his face) or more likely the ugly bastard's heart had likely given out (as was common amongst the kull) and his corpse had been promptly stripped by the insurgents ( I so wish I could have been there when they realized what they were undressing wasn't human).

So with that in mind I promptly slipped into the one size fit all black armor, grabbed a staff weapon and slipped any and all alien tech as well as the remains of my uniform into a rucksack I happened to grab and promptly left. As luck would have it though the moment I stepped out of the storeroom I promptly ran straight into a guard.

He stared at me in horror for a moment before ineffectually firing a few rounds at me. Admittedly I flinched having gotten used to the concept of bulletproof armor not exactly living up to what it advertised but upon the realization I wasn't in the least bit harmed I proceeded to fire the staff weapon into the insurgent's gut. I don't know why I didn't use the zat to stun him, maybe it was faster to use the staff weapon or perhaps it was just the fact he was my enemy and I didn't really give a crap about his well being. Regardless shortly afterwards a whole crap-load of guys drawn by the fire fight came down the hallway guns firing the moment they saw their friend go down. I just stood there the 7.62mm rounds rolling off me like raindrops on a car's hood. And then I just laughed, and not the giggling sort of laughs either, more like full blown maniacal laughter.

I reached into the rucksack slipped on the Kara Kesh and took aim. Then with a symbiote enhanced roar I fired a kinetic shockwave at the insurgents. Oh yes it felt good to be in control of this situation. That being said it was at that moment I learned my earlier assessment about the condition of the Kara Kesh was mistaken as it promptly began to short circuit and if it wasn't for the energy dispersing properties of the Kull armor I would have gotten a nasty zap.

'_Well that was fun while it lasted, damn and here I was hoping to get to melt one of these bastards brains. Wait…Where the hell did that thought come from?' _

'_**Probably me, I sort of picked up some bad habits after I started working for Ba'al '**_

'…_Um…Alef, what the hell…_

'_**Aren't you forgetting something?'**_

'_Wh-OH shit I almost forgot about Barrows!'_

I ran down the hall using our shared memories as a guide and quickly got to where I thought Barrows was being held. Sure enough in a room similar to the one I had been in I found him along with Gunny Jones. A quick check revealed that while Barrows had at least some life left in him Jones was dead as they come though that was sort of expected as judging by the massive amount of damage to him. Either Jones had gotten a real sadist or he had severely pissed off the interrogator as his face had been reduced nearly to an almost unrecognizable mess.

Anyway, I stopped for a moment, trying to figure out how to get them both out of there. There was no way I was leaving Jones with these guys not when there was a chance I could get him out of there. I was going to just drop the sci-fi crap so I could throw him over my shoulder but before I could do anything though I heard the sound of other people coming down the hallway. It was at that moment I realized just how screwed I was at that moment. I was literally backed into a corner in a small room near the door and while I could survive damn near anything short of an anti tank missile at this point Barrows was not so fortunate. All it would take was one grenade and his ass was cooked. Truthfully I could probably shield him using by blocking the door with my body, but the fact remained unlike the Kull I wasn't a superhuman. Add to that the fact that I had neither explosives nor any sort of full auto weapon to back me up and it was only a matter of time before I was overwhelmed.

'_Damn, damn, damn! There's got to be a way out! Come-on Alef help me out here!'_

'_**I…got nothing'**_

'_Damn it! If this is what the rest of you Tok'ra are like then no wonder Colonel O'Neil was always complaining about you guys! I…wait a minute Alef, Ba'al installed an Asgard beaming device in this hand device right?'_

'_**Yes but what does that…Oh no you're not seriously thinking about'**_

'_As a matter of fact I am'_

'_**But I'm not even sure that it's even functional.'**_

'_You have any better ideas I'm all ears! No? Then tell me how to set this thing to beam up other objects!'_

'_**But even if the transporter is functional there's no guarantee if it will be able to lock in on your position not to mention given how damaged the hand device is you might end up getting beamed into a wall and…'**_

'_ALEF!' _

'_**Damn it all fine!'**_

I felt the knowledge enter my mind and as soon as it was done I activated the proper sequence. To test the device I used the body of Jones as a target, reasoning that it didn't really matter since if it failed at least the insurgents wouldn't have something to serve as a trophy and besides he was dead anyway so it's not like he would know. As luck would have it, one minor detail that had been glossed over in the show was the fact that the upgraded Kara Kesh had a built in readout which showed me Jones had been successfully transported (I guess it was around this point in the show some of earth's pragmatism had really started to take hold in Ba'al). Immediately afterwards I beamed over Barrows and once that was done I set about doing it for myself and hit the button. The beaming experience started out alright if a little strange however fate at that moment decided to show how much of a fickle bitch she could be.

I found myself on the ship lying on the ground which confused the hell out of me. Well at least for the first like 15 seconds before I felt the worst pain I ever felt in my life shoot through me. I felt knowledge more knowledge than I thought my brain could contain pass through me, mercifully though it ended and was instead replaced by a faint and familiar voice.

'_**I warned you'**_

'_Alef?'_

'_**Near as I can tell the transporter malfunctioned and threw you across the room. I barely managed to drag us over here. I'm glad to see you're okay and conscious, it gives me a chance to say a proper goodbye.'**_

'_g-goodbye? Wait what do you mean?'_

'_**Your injured my friend, between your preexisting wounds and the ones from the accident you will not survive your injuries without my aid, and well I'm sorry to say I was affected far worse in the transporter mishap than yourself so I'm sad to say this will probably kill me so…'**_

'_Then don't do it! Damn it Alef the last thing I want is for someone else to sacrifice themselves for me! I'm not worth it…'_

'_**Yes you are! I saw your memories and thoughts Marcus and you are a good person. I know you will not willingly let others suffer if it can be helped; I know you will not allow the injustices caused by others to stand. Which is why I know that I must do this and that I was right to entrust this to you, and so I have given to you all the knowledge I posses and I beseech you to please use it to help others.'**_

'_Damn it Alef no! I-I'm weak! I won't be able to handle it all I'll end up abusing it and…'_

'_**No… I know you think its illogical and I-I know you've never had a-any use for unsubstantiated beliefs, but I-I have a feeling you'll do the right thing…I…have faith…in…y-you…'**_

'_Alef? ALEF? Don't you dare leave me alone!_

'…_**goodbye…'**_

And with that I was alone, save for the body of Jones and the unconscious Barrows. I was in shock just sitting there almost catatonic. Eventually though someone hit the reboot button in my brain and I arose robotically my emotions too drained for me to fret over this whole mess, and with nary a thought on anything but my goal I marched down the ship's hallway. I arrived at the ships pilot chair and without another thought I checked all the readouts. Not once did I sway in my single minded goal and one by one I activated all the ships various systems and restarted the sublight engines. As I looked out on the displayed scene before me through the ships HUD I only felt cold distaste for the various insurgents I could see gaping at the hovering form of the Al'kesh. If I had been in my normal state of mind I might have been excited about having my own personal spaceship. Right now though I just wanted to go home, but first I wanted to take care of something first. A quick run thru of the ship systems revealed the ship's staff cannon was functional and so after orienting the ship properly I promptly opened fire on _every single last insurgent I could see, _ plus the various vehicles milling about and just for the hell of it all the various caves in my line of sight. Through the red haze I saw in my mind I vaguely recognized the fact that my efforts had actually collapsed a good chunk of the mountain range the cave system was located in but frankly at the time I just didn't care.

In any case once I was sure everything I could see had been burned beyond recognition by the high temperature plasma I set off in a semi-random direction only stopping when I recognized one of the places I was flying over was a route frequented by friendly transports. Mechanically I set about changing back into the remains of my Marine uniform, before putting the sci-fi tech away. The last thing I did before I dragged myself and the others off the ship was to activate the ships cloaking device (which thankfully still functioned) and program the ships autopilot with a set of coordinates where it would decloak before landing. To be specific the location I sent it was an abandoned farm near my own, as despite my current state I was still lucid enough to realize how valuable this ship and its tech was and that I might find some future use for it. Why didn't I just give the thing to the military? I guess it was just my general lack of faith in the top brass that this whole mess had instilled in me. Given that their mission had gotten my entire unit killed the last thing I wanted to do was to help them in any way.

And so with that done, I flung the forms of Jones and Barrows over my shoulders and walked off the ship. Seconds later the Al'kesh cloaked and took off and I started to walk down the road towards the base. It wasn't long before I ran into an APC that was headed in the opposite direction. To make a long story short they agreed to take everyone back.

My return was a shock to say the least. Everyone was buzzing around like a bunch of freaking flies on rotting meat. They offered to give me medical attention but I told them to worry about Barrows and that I was fine. They thought it was me putting up a brave face but in actuality I didn't want to be given an MRI and have to explain the remains of an alien organism attached to my freaking brain stem. So I did everything I could to delay a full examination until using the knowledge I got from Alef I had guessed my body had broken down his remains. In the mean time though I was of course debriefed and needless to say it was rather awkward, after all trying and explain how I single handedly crossed a sizeable chunk of Afghanistan while carrying 2 men before either a rescue effort had begun or before Jones' body had begun to rot is not exactly something I was used to doing. Thankfully it seemed I had picked up a few tricks from Alef's memories and I was able to answer their questions.

How did I get out? Well if you read the report I had overpowered the guard (true), disguised myself (also true though not in the way they thought), grabbed my stuff (also true), and then after killing a few guys I promptly destroyed the base (kind of true only in the report I blew up the insurgent armory) before hitching a ride with the help of some friendly locals (complete bullshit). As to the strange disruption around the area that just coincidentally disappeared from the area at the same time I left the cave? Well I told them I had no idea what they were talking about (which was true in the sense that I didn't know if it was the ship or something on it).

Needless to say I was rather shocked when they accepted my story even if it was in a rather reluctant manner. As it turns out I was lucky there was very little evidence to say to the contrary as the collapse of the mountain range took most of the evidence with them. Also it seemed there was no evidence that I could have done it any other way than how I said I did it in the report. Yeah I don't know if it was because the Al'kesh had some extra stealth feature I was unaware of, if the radar tech in my world was more primitive than that of the Stargate dimension or if it was due to whatever was causing the distortion effect but as it turned out even before I had turned on the ships cloak nobody had the slightest indication of the involvement of the Al'kesh in this whole mess.

So with only a collapsed mountain range to work with and the fact that when Barrows awoke he barely remembered anything; the higher ups had no choice but to accept my story. My story might have played out differently if that's how things had stayed, me and Barrows miraculously alive, Jones given a proper funeral with Barrows and I attending and with this whole mess ultimately being swept under the rug (which though I would have been pissed, I would have gotten over eventually).

However that's where things took an unexpected turn. Someone (not me or Barrows as it turns out) blabbed to the media, next thing I knew I was all over the news. It was overwhelming I was given a medal (not that I can remember what it was after all this time) got jumped to a Capt. and ended up being the headline of more than a few newspapers. Hell I was even offered a freaking movie deal for my story but I refused. There was no way in hell I was going to profit off a lie I made up and the lives of all those dead men and that was that. It was tough but I muddled through it and eventually got sent home where I promptly began to examine the Al'kesh where I was shocked to discover contained the remains of the trans-dimensional shifter device (which the insurgents had apparently not bothered with removing). However before I could get around to contemplating the enormity of what this discovery entitled I was blindsided by something or rather someone I never would have seen coming in a million years.

He wore an elegant if unreasonably expensive Armani tux and just seemed to radiate smugness in a way that I wanted to kick the crap out of him; however it was what he had to say that shocked me to my very core.

"_So who are you again?" I remember asking him_

"_Ah, yes forgive me my name is Lawrence Malcolm Dewitt of Glosten and Co. I'm here to…_

"_Oh for crying out…Listen like I told that lawyer last month I have only slept with one girl in my entire life and she died 2 years ago so tell whatever gold digging whore you represent that I have not consensually or otherwise slept with any person or persons. And that furthermore I not only am not anybodies baby daddy but that whoever says otherwise can kindly shove their accusations up their…_

"_Mr. Friedrich! I can assure you this has nothing to do with any accusations towards you. Though if you are interested in a lawyer I can offer you my card..."_

"_Could you please just get to the point already?"_

"_Oh yes, sorry about that ahem, as I was trying to say earlier I am actually here not because of certain matters of inheritance that you may be entitled to."_

"_May be entitled to?"_

"_Yes, you see in order to determine if you are eligible we'd have to run a D.N.A test first. Um if you could please let me inside I could explain in more detail." _

The conversation that followed revealed the true reason as to why this guy had been sent. It apparently involved the estate of a guy with the pretentious name of Amon Sandoval who I recalled hearing about in the News. Apparently he owned a major tech firm Sandoval Technologies and was one of the richest guys in the world until the moron went and got himself killed in a drunk driving incident 2 weeks prior. How did this concern me? Well recall my mentioning my dad being a rich boy who forced himself on mom? Yep this was the guy. As to how my relation to him came to light, apparently Sandoval had drunkenly mentioned some girl he had knocked up while living down south and upon his death his lawyers had promptly started to look for the girl. By chance it happened one of the pictures of me getting awarded my medal was in the same issue of the news that announced Sandoval's death and one of his estate lawyers had picked up on the similarities in appearance.

Shock, disbelief, horror flooded my mind. Suddenly the attitudes of my family towards me were made crystal clear in that moment. Gramps coldness and that look mom would send me suddenly gained a new horrifying context. I tried to deny what Mr. Dewitt said though I did eventually consent to a D.N.A test. I figured that it couldn't be true but when I finally got the results in the mail 2 weeks later I had no choice to accept it almost collapsing out of shock when it finally hit home. It was also at that moment that I was filled with a terrifying urge to break something which I proceeded to take out on my chair as well as damn near anything within easy reach though fortunately my T.V and laptop were spared. Finally calming down after my psychotic episode (something I privately noted I would have to tell my shrink about before it became a common occurrence) I decided to contact Mr. Dewitt to see what exactly this whole mess meant for me.

So what was the result? Money and a majority share in one of the biggest tech firms around. Hearing that you would think I would be happy right? To be honest though I felt empty, I told the law firm I would get back to them and ended up spending around a week at home alternating between wandering around and muttering to myself like a loon. As a kid I had hoped like most kids in my position to meet my father or at least find out something about him.

Well I got my wish alright, and now I knew the truth, I was unwanted, plain and simple. The revelation drove me into a depressive funk which nothing seemed to break. Then at the end of the week I got a gift, it was a thank you from Barrows actually something he heard me mentioning that I wanted to get…Batman: Arkham city. It helped distract me from my troubles, after all batman and Spiderman were my two favorite superheroes as both of them weren't all brawn and no brains like some heroes or entirely goody goodies. Spidey was willing to bend the rules to do the truly right thing, and batman was intimidating while still being essentially the best humanity had to offer.

Speaking of batman and whatnot I just had one major complaint with the game the ending…

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU WOULD HAVE SAVED HIM!" I remember just staring at the screen my jaw hanging open at the ending to the game. Yeah I knew it was probably the best representation of batman's character around but still my mindset was one that someone like Joker doesn't deserve to be saved! Pissed beyond all measure I turned the console off and absentmindedly putting the T.V back on. I sat there for like an hour just going back and forth, back and forth between the channels before just throwing down the remote in frustration and deciding that maybe today was the day to finally get back to examining the Al'kesh. I did just that heading across the road to the run down farm where it lay hidden. Entering it I saw all the random crap I had just left there during my last visit (Imagine, I have a ship more advanced than anything earth had to offer and here I was using it like a glorified clubhouse how freaking pathetic huh?)

Idly I recall just wandering around the ship all the while thinking. _'How could you try and save someone when they are clearly far beyond redemption? Why do the heroes always end up doing stupid shit like that whole mess, but then again even if Batman was willing to just let Joker die either someone in the legal system or someone in the superhero community would find a reason to drag his ass to jail. It's sad but in the grand scheme of things Batman despite all his assets is not really capable of affecting that much change. Oh well, no point in over thinking these things, after all it's not like I could go there and change anything…or could I? _

Suddenly images of the trans-dimensional device and Alef's final words began to echo in my mind and suddenly I began to think of how if repaired it could be used to great effect in changing things not just in the Stargate universe but in dozens of other so called fictional societies. So called, because I was starting to come to the realization that other fictional societies were more than likely just as real as the Stargate one (Which of course brought up the question of, were all the so called fictional universes real or were some made up but that was not important at the moment). But getting back on track…

'_I could change things!' _I remember thinking '_I could go to other worlds and make things better! I could over throw all those corrupt empires throughout the various realities! The Borg, the Goa'uld the Ori, the Peacekeepers! I could be like the Tau'ri in stargate freeing the Jaffa so…they could be preyed on by the Ori and the Lucian alliance.'_

Yeah if there was one major fault I had with the whole Stargate shtick it was the realization that if you watched the entire series from SG-1 to SG-U you came to the realization that every time they over through one bad guy a new one rose up to fill the void. Hell let's be honest, that's not at all unique to the Stargate universe look at our own society or hell any other so called fictional societies.

The whole plight of the Stargate universe reminded me of a discussion I had in class about what had happened when one regime got overthrown, logically when a regime was over thrown someone would move in to fill the power vacuum and those who did were in no way guarantee to be any better than those who came before. And thus arose some problems; how to overthrow a tyrannical regime and at the same time how could you guarantee that those who came to fill the void would be better than those who came before?

In the case of Stargate, once that whole mess with Ra was over the Tau'ri really didn't have a choice but to overthrow the Goa'uld or they'd have been overwhelmed. Now admittedly they tried to help the planets they freed get back on their feet, but let's be honest while the Tau'ri did eventually have the means to go about freeing the enslaved people they simply lacked the means to take care of the entire galaxy. So as a result most of the Milky Way with the exception of the most advanced worlds was left without guidance or in the case of some worlds, without the resources to survive in a hostile galaxy. As a result, it was child's play for other hostile factions who could provide these things and a sense of security to move in and fill the void.

'_But', _I thought to myself '_maybe there's another way… maybe I can help these unfortunate people somehow, give them guidance and someone to watch over them? But then again, should I? Am I really the right person to do this? And if so, how should I go about doing this?'_

Now I am sure if people could see my thoughts they would know how dangerous this line of thought can be and would wonder why I would even allow my mind would even go in this direction. To answer that and explain why I thought I could do this I feel the need to wax philosophical for a bit so I could be better understood. One thing that always separated me from others since a young age was my unusual mindset. I have always admired those who served as…well for lack of a better term paragons yet at the same time I never put anyone up on a pedestal. Batman for instance embodied an almost perfect balance; he struck fear in the wicked embodying Nietzsche's saying that _fear is the mother of morality_ while serving as the light for the everyman proving to the world that there were still good people out there.

All very idealistic and something I can agree with to an extant however at the same time in my mind if Batman wanted to help Gotham he would have to be more pragmatic. What's the point of putting Joker in jail if he's just going to go and do the same freaking thing all over again! Still that was the difference between me and Batman though killing in my mind was an absolute last resort I still considered it a viable option! In my mind here is how it worked, the whole concept of _the road to hell is paved with good intentions_ is bullshit.I suppose my mindset could be summarized as the bastard lovechild of Ayn Rand and Friedrich Nietzsche (though with a slight religious ting and a little bit more of a moderate socialist slant). I had a concept of what was right and I was willing to do anything to achieve it. Even act on certain so called "dark" thoughts that most people would try to shove away. Like say, kill a dangerous individual like the Joker. Hey my mindset may be repulsive to some more traditional individuals out there but I would like to point out the original language of the Ten Commandments it says "thou shall not murder not thou shall not kill", and the fact is to me seeing as Joker is pretty much guaranteed to kill someone once free killing someone like him is what I would call, an action of pre-emptive self-defense.

Now as I said before, this should only be done as an absolute last resort and after due consideration and only if other courses of action are unviable. To me there were several ways to stop "evil" before having to resort to murder. There are parents and the school system to stamp out bad behavior early on and prevent people from making bad choices out of ignorance, hospitals to fix a physical defect which prevents people from doing the right (say a brain or glandular anomaly), the church to heal the soul and reinforce morality, the insane asylum to heal a damaged psyche, and jail to fix the moral core. In my mind if all these things fail and you've come to the realization that the guilty party doesn't want to be fixed, has nothing to fix, or is broken beyond repair than people should stop wasting resources and just put the person out of humanity's misery.

And just who would be willing to do this? Most people simply lacked either the means or the stomach to enforce this on a large enough scale so it could be effective. But as I started thinking about this conundrum more and more I found that I felt that I could do this. Why you ask? Well it was a due to a lesson I had been taught at church which had always resonated with me. And that was that if you see something evil being done, and you posses the means to stop it from being done and do nothing to at least try and help, you are just as guilty as the one doing the evil deed.

Now I believe I should make it clear, that while I was admittedly rather anti-organized religion my whole life (due to my belief that other people have in the past distorted the correct path with their own brand of bull) I was not anti-god by any stretch of the imagination. I believed in a higher power and I acknowledged that religion had its place and that there had never been a successful atheist society in human history, nor did I believe one would ever come about (at least when it came to humans).

So with that in mind is it really so hard to believe I would decide to go out and do something about what seemed to be an overflowing multi-verse filled with stupidity, evil, and ineffectual heroes? Especially given that I was armed with several advanced (albeit damaged) pieces of alien tech which could be used to help others in need and a device to travel across said multi-verse. Now before I continue I think I should make clear that while I fully intended to try and help my own world first I did not intend to simply sit around and do nothing there were other worlds and other realities in need.

That being said the problem lay in how go about helping those worlds once I got there; sure I could simply give the tech to the good guys in those realities but how could I be sure they would know how to use them to their full effectiveness. Not to mention the problems that would result if the bad guys got a hold of this tech. Sure I could go those realities then try to join the heroes in their various quests and whatnot thereby ensuring only the right people would get the tech, but I couldn't be sure that the good guys wouldn't A). just ignore me or think I was insane (after all what am I suppose to say hello I'm from a world where your all a bunch of fictional characters and your various struggles are just amusements to my people but its' okay because I've decided to help out!) B). believe me but possibly either lose the will to live/ get pissed and give up being the hero upon realizing that their struggles have been entertainment to others or C). Force me to give every last bit of info about future events thus causing them to try and pick a fight with something they weren't ready for.

Yeah, I'll be honest with myself at this point in my life I had very little faith in other people unless I either knew them personally or was directing them so it was easy for me to only trust myself to pick the right choice of action. Add a lack of patience when it came to trying to convince people I was right and well it was easy for me to pick what seemed to be the most expedient path. And that was go forth kick the crap out of the bad guys and force everyone else to do the right thing by whatever means necessary! But if I was going to go thru with this path, I would need manpower, I would need to get stronger myself so people would have faith in me, but before I did any of that, I would need to fix the trans-dimensional shifter device.

And while I thankfully had the knowledge to do so (thanks to Alef having secretly examined the device for some time before taking it) the one thing I lacked in order to do so was resources and the money to buy said resources…which I suddenly realized could be acquired with just one little phone call. And with that in mind I set about calling Mr. Dewitt and claiming what was rightfully mind, thus beginning an age which some in the multi-verse would call a dark age and others would call a renaissance, but which I would know simply as…my rise to power.


End file.
